Quick SNITCH

A quantitative guide to the degree of difficulty of the Times Quick Cryptic Crossword

Times Quick Cryptic Crossword 3105

Date 27 September 2025
Number 3105
Setter Breadman
Day of week Saturday
NITCH 103
Count of ref solvers 81
Ref solvers excluded with errors 11
Link to crossword View Crossword*
Times for the Times Link 3105

* Requires access to the Times Crossword Club

Detailed solving results

 

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Reference, Tracked and Blog solvers with error-free solutions to this puzzle are shown below.

We also show the solver's Personal NITCH, which is their result on this puzzle compared to their average time, and the Wavelength Index of Times Cryptic Hardness, the WITCH, which is the Personal NITCH compared to the SNITCH.

Name TfTT Name Average time This time Personal NITCH WITCH
mohn 02:07 01:32 72 69
Paul Gilbert 02:14 02:11 97 94
verlaine 02:38 02:48 106 102
hilarym 02:50 03:27 121 117
aphis99 aphis99 02:51 02:46 97 94
Flimmy flammy 03:11 03:38 114 110
markdobell 03:39 03:43 101 98
Heyesey 03:41 04:39 126 122
Sheapey Sheapey 03:43 03:37 97 94
Amoeba89 03:55 03:43 94 91
AlanS 03:55 04:04 103 100
SimonAnthony 04:04 03:56 96 93
Topical Tim Topical Tim 04:11 05:56 141 136
Deane Short 04:13 03:59 94 91
lickert 04:15 04:36 108 104
MK76 04:35 05:58 130 126
chindit 04:37 04:51 105 101
Bluejacket 04:39 03:33 76 73
tilbee 04:40 05:00 107 103
philjordan1147 BUSMAN 04:46 04:21 91 88
alexh 04:47 05:22 112 108
scrabbler 04:51 04:17 88 85
Jon Delfin 04:52 04:21 89 86
LouWeed LouWeed 04:53 05:27 111 107
andy 04:55 03:53 78 75
fshephe 04:56 04:22 88 85
JayEm 05:01 04:45 94 91
March 05:03 04:02 79 76
Ed freshpot 05:04 05:53 116 112
nina s 05:10 09:30 183 177
Zander 05:14 05:25 103 100
Squallaby 05:15 05:24 102 99
7dPenguin 7dPenguin 05:16 04:52 92 89
Tibthorpe 05:19 06:00 112 108
rrricharrrd 05:32 05:31 99 96
Riche Riche 05:32 06:28 116 112
Finzi 05:39 06:11 109 105
chriswestontour 05:47 05:12 89 86
Rabbitoh galspray 05:49 06:00 103 100
KarenR 05:57 07:21 123 119
Anomalospiza 06:10 06:24 103 100
andrewfeist96 06:22 09:41 152 147
Adrian Cobb 06:34 05:58 90 87
Dzhigit 06:34 09:13 140 135
paul.whitehouse69 06:34 07:31 114 110
Tudds 06:38 07:36 114 110
GMcD 06:38 05:32 83 80
Michael Dove 06:39 08:58 134 130
Curarist 06:42 05:23 80 77
mjsaunders9 06:56 06:47 97 94
uvofiz 07:01 06:15 89 86
janesa 07:03 07:19 103 100
James P 07:05 05:43 80 77
Nangle 07:08 07:39 107 103
Kevin Gregg Kevin Gregg 07:13 07:16 100 97
robertL 07:13 09:42 134 130
Jamie Fox 07:15 08:20 114 110
robinh 07:18 08:17 113 109
Puzzleplease 07:27 09:03 121 117
DamienKnapma 07:29 11:20 151 146
Mike Harper Mike Harper 07:35 06:35 86 83
Corymbia Corymbia 07:47 06:58 89 86
1234 07:51 08:04 102 99
JanieP 08:01 08:31 106 102
Solving slo mo 08:07 08:46 108 104
smalley552 08:08 09:55 121 117
plett11 Plett11 08:14 08:40 105 101
john.brassey 08:30 09:03 106 102
Templar Redux Templar 08:30 08:41 102 99
Jeeves 08:38 09:32 110 106
jaraab 08:38 08:59 104 100
vinyl12345 vinyl1 08:40 07:48 90 87
johndun John Dunleavy 08:40 07:26 85 82
goblin 08:43 11:52 136 132
m5harp 08:46 08:16 94 91
Cuppa378 08:46 06:20 72 69
mattindoha 08:49 10:44 121 117
vefatica vefatica 08:56 08:51 99 96
crosswordian 09:00 09:15 102 99
nigelmzzz 09:06 10:22 113 109
f4rch 09:09 07:26 81 78
timbo 09:11 09:13 100 97
mich_punk 09:17 09:23 101 98
barracuda barracuda 09:28 09:32 100 97
Pauline Minter 09:56 14:51 149 144
alexngbr 10:19 07:30 72 69
Laputan 10:47 12:13 113 109
starstruck starstruck_au 10:49 12:18 113 109
TonyN6 11:14 08:50 78 75
rlowin2 11:21 11:56 105 101
simjt simjt 11:21 10:09 89 86
Cedric Statherby 11:34 17:10 148 143
Pendrov 11:44 11:28 97 94
Captain Burnaby 11:50 16:06 136 132
WordPlodder BletchleyReject 11:52 11:13 94 91
BertieVII 12:14 12:58 105 101
chabuduo chabuduo 12:22 07:11 58 56
kapietro kapietro 12:39 14:42 116 112
Sonofjim 12:42 13:10 103 100
suethepotterer 12:51 10:41 83 80
Charpentier 14:13 13:33 95 92
Mark from Ipswich 14:31 17:22 119 115
Merlin_55 Merlin 14:50 14:31 97 94
Xebeq 15:13 15:03 98 95
horners1974 Jonathan Hornby 15:45 11:44 74 71
tomtom2 17:47 25:09 141 136
anderson1965 19:06 19:39 102 99
bangsar DearHector 21:12 27:18 128 124
philby 22:00 17:34 79 76
Dofray 22:17 14:32 65 63
paulmcl 24:28 47:13 192 186
kevinlimanta 35:46 19:45 55 53
Jikolp 38:17 36:36 95 92
revolting tonic 38:45 36:25 93 90
mcfarl 46:44 59:08 126 122

A guide to the solver status

Legend
 Reference solver used for SNITCH
 Other Reference solver
 Tracked solver
 Blog solver

Blog Solvers

Blog Solvers are those who have allowed their times to be taken from the Times for the Times blog.

Notes for Blog Solvers:

  • the most reliable format for reporting times is with format "mm:ss" or as "x minutes" in the title or at the start of the entry
  • only the first main comment for each blogger is used; responses to other comments or a second comment is ignored
  • to report errors, include "n errors" just after the time
  • If you just have a time it is assumed you have no errors unless you mention DNF or pink squares or giving up, etc, in the text
  • Examples of good time notifications are "38:30, 0 errors" and "39 minutes, 0 errors" in the comment title or as the first part of your comment

Notes

The definition of Reference and Tracked solvers is described on the Neutrinos page.

The results for Reference solvers are normally used to calcuate the SNITCH. When this happens they are shown in the list with a solid blue line to the left. In the previous SNITCH results listing for each crossword, these were the only entries shown.

The most common causes for Reference solver results not to be used are: (a) that they did not meet the criteria this month to be used as a reference (e.g. they may not have completed enough puzzles on each day of the week) or (b) they have been pushed out of the top 100 on the leader board. In these cases, the results are now shown, but their data is not used for the SNITCH calculation.

Where there is data for Tracked solvers, I show them also in this table. The solving data is not always available, as the Crossword Club site only shows the top 100 solvers to everyone. Logged-in users get their own leaderboard position and those around them, but this is not available to everyone. So the SNITCH site only gets data for those who have made the top 100 in the leaderboard at some point during the day.

As a result there are a few geographically advantaged solvers; those of us who solve early in the day (e.g. we in the Antipodes, those in Asia and those staying up late in North America) are more likely to hit the leaderboard even with slower times. Solvers who are just as capable but solve later in the UK day might not make the top 100 and I have no way to capture their results.

You may wonder why there are Tracked solvers (in red) with low average solving times, mixed in with the Reference solvers (in blue). These are usually those that, while they don't seem to be Neutrinos, are not well aligned to the SNITCH. So I don't use them as Reference solvers in the SNITCH calculation, but still show their overall results.

You might also notice that there's some inconsistency at the tail end of the Reference solver list. My cutoff point is an average solving time of 45 minutes. But if someone around this mark is chosen as a Reference solver, their next month's results might end up being over 45 minutes and they will still be used. Alternatively, a Tracked solver might creep in under 45 minutes on the next calculation, but didn't make the cut for the prior Reference list. It's on the to-do list to see if I can make this a bit more predictable.

Stored SNITCH Values

Here are the SNITCH values (stored on the day) from the crossword.

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